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President William Ruto has said that he will work with counties to eliminate cartels in the agricultural sector.
Speaking on Saturday, Ruto said this will be done through setting up aggregation and distribution centres for storage.
He added that these centres will also serve as value addition and marketing of agricultural products centres to eliminate cartels .
“The objective of this partnership is to reduce post harvest losses, eliminate predatory cartels and boost farmer incomes,” he said during Ushirika Day celebrations at KICC.
Ruto further said the government is investing in refurbishment of coffee factory infrastructure in the country and exploring new export market opportunities.
This, he said, is in anticipation of increased coffee production as well as to enable the Kenya Planters’ Cooperatives Union to mill and market coffee, provide affordable credit and subsidise inputs to coffee growers.
“This is how we intend to improve coffee productivity from 2kg per tree to 5kg and raise national production from 51,000 metric tonnes to 81,000 MT in the next crop year and thereafter 200,000 MT in the next five years,” Ruto said.
He said government interventions have been extended to the horticultural value chain where processing plants such as the one in Ol Kalou are being expanded.
He further said new fresh produce cooling and processing plants are being established in various centres across the country.
They include Kipipiri, Ndaragwa, Ol Joro Orok, Kesses, Timboroa, Londiani Elburgon, Molo and Mogotio. BY THE STAR